Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are to reunite on stage this year in Harold Pinter’s masterpiece, No Man’s Land which will embark on a UK tour, opening in Sheffield from 3 August, followed by dates in Newcastle, Brighton and Cardiff. The production will then head into London’s West End where it will play a limited 14 week engagement at the Wyndham’s Theatre from 8 September. No Man’s Land was first performed at the iconic Wyndham’s Theatre in 1975 with Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, following its premiere at the National Theatre.
Directed by Sean Mathias, this production of No Man’s Land received highly acclaimed reviews at the Cort Theatre in New York whilst in repertory alongside Waiting for Godot, also starring stage and screen friends, McKellen and Stewart and directed by Mathias. The production of Waiting for Godot had transferred from London where it celebrated a sell-out run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, the last time these masters of British theatre shared a West End stage.
One summer’s evening, two ageing writers, Hirst and Spooner, meet in a Hampstead pub and continue their drinking into the night at Hirst’s stately house nearby. As the pair become increasingly inebriated, and their stories increasingly unbelievable, the lively conversation soon turns into a revealing power game, further complicated by the return home of two sinister younger men.
For Stewart, this is a monumental moment – and one that means an awful lot. His passion for Pinter is almost unparalleled – “I saw the original production of No Man’s Land three times in one week at Wyndham’s Theatre and would have seen it more if I could have afforded the tickets. I made a promise to myself that one day I would play Spooner or Hirst but to be doing it back at Wyndham’s with Ian McKellen was a fantasy I never entertained.” Thankfully that dream has now been realised!
Further casting has yet to be announced for No Man’s Land which will have set and costume design by Stephen Brimson Lewis and lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski.
You can find out more information about the show at www.NoMansLandThePlay.com.
Photo from Luke Fontana
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